Portable MRI coming to Regina to help reduce waiting list

With many in Saskatchewan waiting hundreds of days for MRI scans, the provincial health ministry is introducing a new tool.

A mobile MRI will be deployed to Regina next year and will stay there for 24 months while more permanent plans to reduce waiting times are put into place, the ministry said Thursday.

The mobile machine – which will cost $2.4 million to lease and install – is expected to boost the province’s MRI capacity by about 2,500 patients per year.

“We are committed to reducing wait times for MRI scans that are needed to determine next steps for patients’ diagnosis and treatment,” Everett Hindley, Saskatchewan’s health minister, said in a statement.

“Work is ongoing to permanently increase medical imaging volumes provincially, to sustain these efficiencies long term.”

The mobile machine will first be installed at the Regina General Hospital, the ministry added, before being moved to the Pasqua Hospital once the necessary infrastructure is put into place.

According to data shared by the provincial government, between July and September, one in 10 patients waiting for an MRI waited longer than 246 days. Some Saskatchewan residents have even paid for private scans outside the province.

Between the start of July and the end of September, the median wait time for an MRI in Regina was 144 days, with 7,737 people waiting.

As of September, the provincial average waiting time for an MRI was 95.2 days.

The machines create detailed images of organs and tissues within the body, and have wide-ranging medical applications.

The province currently has 12 MRI machines, with one each in Lloydminster and Moose Jaw and the rest in Regina and Saskatoon. A portable pediatric MRI is also set to be installed at the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon.

The provincial government came under heavy criticism in September after turning down a $2-million donation for an MRI machine in Estevan due to concerns around operating costs.